The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today said that with concerted efforts and the best possible use of the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, it was possible to lower our logistics cost to 7-8% of GDP, one of the lowest in the world and increase India’s competitive edge in the global market.

 

He was addressing the concluding session of the “Webinar on PM GatiShakti: Creating Synergy for Accelerated Economic Growth”, organized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) from New Delhi today. Over 850 participants drawn centre and state government agencies, leading players from the private sector, academics and industry representatives came together to discuss and chart out the strategy for enhancing India’s logistics efficiency during the webinar.

 

Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for addressing the inaugural session of the Webinar, Shri Piyush Goyal said that the Webinar would lend ‘???’ (momentum) to the government’s ‘??????’ to demystify PM GatiShakti for all stakeholders and utilize the full power of it with ‘Sabka Prayas’. Referring to Prime Minister’s   holistic vision for GatiShakti, Shri Goyal said that GatiShakti envisioned a ‘nation as whole approach’ to Infrastructure planning. 

 

Shri Goyal lamented that for decades India had been held back by lack of infrastructure development. Infrastructure that got created was built in bits and pieces and there was an utter lack of coordination between the Center, States and Local Bodies which resulted in uneven development with gaps, he added. He said that GatiShakti would help States and central bodies to plan utilities and infrastructure such as ports, electricity, water, internet connectivity, rail, road, common affluent treatment plants, packaging facilities and even skill development centers as per the needs of industrial clusters. He called upon all stakeholders to continually engage with GatiShakti and make the best possible use of its tremendous potential.

 

The Minister opined that fixing mistakes when it comes to infrastructure was very difficult and added that time delays often rendered the projects outdated and irrelevant. He said that the root cause of the problem was the huge difference between macro planning and micro implementation. Due to silos approach in decision-making, the budget was wasted and instead of infrastructure acting as a force multiplier, we often ended up losing value, he said.

 

Shri Goyal said that guided by PM’s mantra of ‘Work for Progress, Wealth for Progress, Plan for progress and Preference for progress’, GatiShakti aspired to increase synergy and coordination between Center and States at every level. PM GatiShakti envisions to accelerate the economy and the nation with 7 engines of progress viz. roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways and logistics infrastructure, he added.

 

Shri Goyal said that GatiShakti would help in building Next Gen infrastructure to improve Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business. This will kickstart the virtuous cycle of private and public investment and will have a multiplier effect, he added.

 

He appreciated the scientists of BISAG-N for their hard work in brining GatiShakti to life and congratulated DPIIT for playing a pivotal role in keeping the Master Plan on track. It may be noted that The National Master Plan portal, developed by BISAG-N (Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications & Geoinformatics) is a dynamic GIS platform. It is a Digital Master Planning tool with Project Management tools, dynamic dashboards, MIS reports etc. It provides a bird’s eye view of infrastructure development in India.

 

Observing that we must aim to increase infrastructure investment and enable supply side infra financing both by public and private sector, the Minister said that there was a need for workable financial models for projects to prepare smarter concession agreements with least scope of litigations and come up with options for long term and cost-effective agreements to encourage private sector participation in infrastructure projects.

 

Shri Goyal called for multi-stakeholder collaboration across academia, industry and government for data sharing and for upskilling the logistics sector. He also asked for better coordination between various agencies for faster clearances for Land, Environment, Forest etc.

 

Placing the Webinar in the context of the mythological story of ‘Saagar Manthan’, the Minister expressed confidence that the Webinar would ‘churn’ many new ideas which would then be translated into actions soon.

 

Alluding to the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, Shri Piyush Goyal said that at this critical juncture in our history, we all need to collectively think of the ways we can improve further and keep asking ourselves the question- What can I do today for the nation that may benefit generations?

 

Shri Goyal said that PM GatiShakti is a tool, which if used to the maximum possible extent, would make India a super power in the ‘Amrit Kaal’. PM GatiShakti will showcase our true potential and show the world how a confident Aatmanirbhar Bharat is engaging with technology to create a better future for our citizens.

 

Earlier, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address and five sub-groups in breakout sessions discussed various aspects related to implementation of Gati Shakti. Shri Anurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry led the session on ‘Nation as a whole approach’ to introduce a new vision of integrated planning and synchronized time bound implementation. The second session on ‘Cooperative Federalism and Enhanced Capital Investment for Infrastructure’ was led by Shri Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary for Logistics at DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), Shri Giridhar Aramane led a separate session on ‘Enablers of Logistics Efficiency’ focusing on the national expressway master plan along with Sagarmala, Parvatmala as well as the PM GatiShakti multi-modal cargo terminals. Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) was lead for the session on ‘Logistics workforce strategy- Enhancing skill and employment opportunities’. The final session was led by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, was titled ‘ULIP-Revolutionizing Indian Logistics’.

The Centre is planning to enhance the subsidy on 'natural farming' by 50 per cent by re-launching the scheme on a mission mode in select blocks without hampering the food security, a concern many experts have expressed amid its failure in Sri Lanka. Under the plan, now under consideration, one cluster (of 500 hectares), each in 1-2 blocks will be taken up to motivate farmers.

 

Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) was introduced as a sub-scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) in 2020-21 under which the Centre releases about ?12,200/hectare for a period of three years for cluster formation, capacity building and continuous handholding. In the 2022-23 Budget both the BPKP and PKVY have been subsumed under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

 

'The current assistance is too low to motivate farmers and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has agreed for enhancing it. It could be around ?18,000 per hectare under the revamped plan depending on the scale of the roll-out,' a source said. Though the plan is to cover 6,672 blocks in the country in phases over a period of time with at least one cluster each, initially the focus will be on those areas which have been practising natural farming and there is potential to achieve the target at the earliest, sources said.

 

Natural and organic

However, some experts have said that the assistance under natural farming should be at par with organic farming where farmers currently receive ?31,000-32,500 per hectare for three years.

 

'India has the first mover advantage in the label of ‘Natural’ in the global agricultural export market. This creates greater opportunities for us. The label of Natural in agriculture is larger and deeper than ‘Organic’ in view of social and economic benefits in addition to the Bharatiya concept,' said S Chandrasekaran, a foreign trade policy expert. The label of organic is matured and therefore, the financial assistance on natural farming should be equal to organic agriculture, he added.

 

'The financial assistance scheme of organic agriculture could be linked with Tracenet Certification Software of APEDA, as it contains comprehensive and practising farmers, in order to create efficient utilisation,' Chandrasekaran added.

 

Simultaneously, standards will be developed for crops produced through natural farming and promotion will be initiated with separate export-oriented branding different from organic products, the source said. Positioning is very important to get premium for produce of natural farming that will be one of the key motivators for the farmers, the source said.

 

Food security

 

On food security issue, the government officials said that there is no such threat as production will not drop in natural farming and the selection of crops like oilseeds and pulses will be rather beneficial for the country.

 

The current BPKP scheme emphasises on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of cow dung-urine formulations and plant based preparations, Tomar had said in a written reply in Lok Sabha last month.

 

Until now, government-assisted natural farming area has reached 4.09 lakh hectares for which ?49.81 crore has been disbursed in eight States including Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Kerala.

 

Allocation under RKVY started during the UPA government, has been increased nearly three-fold to ?10,433 crore for 2022-23 from ?3,712.44 crore (BE) in current fiscal and the hike is over five-times from the revised estimate. The scheme allows flexibility to States to develop and implement their own plans and draw the Central funds. The revamped plan on natural farming may also allow States to disburse additional funds above the Central assistance from the RKVY budget, the source said.

 

According to a parliamentary standing committee report, about 290 districts account for consumption of 85 per cent of fertilisers used in the farm sector. While promoting organic and natural farming, the government may not touch these districts initially as they also contribute in the overall food production.

 

In January, the Sri Lankan government announced a compensation package of $200 million to rice farmers whose crops were affected by the ban on chemical fertilisers and the country had to shelve its plan to become the world’s first country to become 100-per cent organic after a food crisis.

The Indian Government's plan of creation of 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) across the country at an expenditure of Rs 6,865 crore is moving fast. Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Tomar has said that the plan will help farmers in significantly reducing their cost of farming, as well as improving the quality of their products in line with global standards.

 

The Union Minister revealed this while addressing the FPO summit organised by CII & NCDEX in partnership with NABARD and NABCONS.

 

The FPO summit was aimed at bringing together all the stakeholders in the agri value-chain connected with FPOs on a common platform and showcasing how FPOs have been instrumental in impacting the entire agri value chain. Another area of focus of the summit was creating awareness on alternate market channels.

 

Dr G R Chintala, Chairman, NABARD, while addressing the inaugural session highlighted that while production increases, productivity remains a challenge and to overcome this challenge, FPOs need to leverage new technologies such as AI and Blockchain towards optimising collectivisation benefits.

 

Focussing on the importance of electronic market platforms for FPOs,  S K Mohanty, whole-time member, SEBI, mentioned that price exchange platforms enable FPOs towards better bargaining power through price risk management and should be leveraged as a market channel for better income levels.

 

On industries' contribution, Sanjiv Puri, chairman, CII National Council on Agriculture, and CMD, ITC Ltd, mentioned that CII’s FPO Business Service Unit is working towards empowering farmers through input linkage, market linkage and capacity building towards making value chains competitive, climate resilient and ensuring better qualities for better price realisation.

 

The sessions at the summit focussed on alternative market channels and other financing options along with infrastructure connect. The conference discussed a wide range of topics focussing on production related challenges, input marketing, alternate output market channels offered to FPOs and also how FPOs are mainstreaming the corporate decision making for input marketing as well as procurement.

 

P K Swain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, mentioned that the FPO model has the potential to enhance global trade of Indian GI products at competitive prices thus promoting exports and positioning India as a global trade leader.

 

Further experts also deliberated on the areas of concern in terms of financial literacy of the FPO members and the important policies and market forces for financial inclusion of the FPOs and how collective requirements from FPOs are shaping the need for on-farm infrastructure as well as other services.

The Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has decided to relax some provisions of foreign trade policy (FTP) to help importers bring in their moong cargoes contracted before February 11, in a move that could provide relief to a section of the pulses trade.

 

Last month, the Centre had amended the moong import policy by moving it from 'free' to 'restricted', a move that shocked importers.

 

Following representation from various entities, the DGFT has decided to relax the FTP provision to allow importers to ship in moong for fiscal 2021-22, subject to some conditions. The quantity eligible for import would be proportionate to the amount paid prior to February 11, 2022, as advance. If the advance payment had been made in full for the entire contracted quantity, then the eligibility would be for the entire contracted quantity. 'If there is a partial payment, quantity admissible for import shall be limited to the quantity in proportion to the advance payments made,' DGFT said in a trade notice issued on Monday.

 

DGFT said the import contracts should have been entered into prior to February 11 with payments made. Details of such contracts have to be registered before March 15 at the jurisdictional regional offices of additional DGFT in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana.

 

Trade sources, following the change in moong bean import policy early last month, had indicated that cargoes of upto 50,000 tonnes were getting prepared to be shipped to India before March 31 from origins such as Myanmar.

 

India’s moong imports during the April-September period of the current fiscal were valued at $76.9 million against $77.14 million in the entire f2020-21 fiscal.

 

As per the Second Advance Estimates, moong production in India during 2021-22 is expected to be 3.06 million tonnes, including 2 million tonnes in kharif and 1.06 million tonnes in rabi season.

Pritam Singh, who farms on 110 acres, including some land taken on lease, at Urlana Khurd village of Haryana’s Panipat district, has just sold his harvest of Basmati rice varieties — PB 1121 and PB 1509 — at the local mandi at Rs 3,800 and Rs 3,500 a quintal, respectively.

 

Both the varieties, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, Delhi, fetch farmers like Singh financial benefits in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre, after taking into account cost of cultivation as well as lease rental for the land.

 

'Since the introduction of high-yielding varieties like PB1121 and PB1509, the production as well as quality in terms of size of the Basmati rice grain increased thus bringing economic benefits to us,' Singh told FE.

 

Singh said prior to the introduction of these two varieties, the yield of traditional varieties was in the range of 12 –13 quintal per acre, while the PB1121 and PB1509 varieties have an average yield of 24 quintal and 26 quintal per acre, respectively.

While the high-yielding and larger-grained PB1121 variety was certified as Basmati rice in 2008, the PB1509, which takes fewer weeks for maturity, was released in 2013.

 

Two Basmati rice varieties developed by IARI have contributed 70% of the total value of cumulative exports of long-grain aromatic rice from India worth Rs 2.38 lakh crore between 2010 and 2019, thus bringing benefit to farmers. India exported on an average 3.74 million tonne (mt) of Basmati rice annually during the stated period, of total production of around 5 mt.

 

According to an analysis by IARI of the economic value accrued because of Basmati rice, Rs 1.66 lakh crore worth of export earnings between 2010 and 2019 was from the shipment of PB1121 and PB1509 rice varieties, while domestic sales were to the tune of Rs 51,501 crore in the same period.

 

After deducting the cost of production, the IARI assessment has stated that Rs 1.34 lakh crore has been accrued as earnings to estimated 10 lakh farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, who grow two varieties of aromatic and long grained rice.

 

'Improved Basmati varieties have brought prosperity to millions of Basmati farmers by improving their standards of living, better education for children and best health care for family members,' Ashok Kumar Singh, director, IARI, told FE.

 

During 2010-2019, annually, Basmati rice was grown in 18.34 lakh hectares on an average, out of which PB11121 and PB1509 was grown in 67% and 10% of the area, respectively. The rest of the varieties grown by farmers include PB1, PB6 and PB1718, which are also developed by IARI.

 

ajor export destinations of India’s Basmati rice include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and the UAE, besides some European countries. India exported Basmati rice worth Rs 29,849 crore ($4018 million) in 2020-21.

 

Recently, IARI has released improved varieties PB1847, PB1885 and PB1886; these are improved varieties with inbuilt resistance to bacterial blight and blast diseases. 'These varieties would reduce the use of pesticides significantly in basmati cultivation,' Ranjith Kumar Ellur, scientist, rice section, division of genetics, IARI, said.

Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) has clarified that the coverage on export transactions to Russia has not been withdrawn. It has been mentioned in various media reports that ECGC has withdrawn its cover on the export transactions to Russia vide its circular dated 25.02.2022; this is factually incorrect.

 

In view of the prevailing situation, ECGC carried out a review of the country risk rating of Russia as per its extant underwriting policy. Accordingly, with effect from 25.02.2022, the cover category of Russia has been modified from Open Cover to Restricted Cover Category – I (RCC-I) for which revolving limits (normally valid for a year) are approved specifically on a case-to-case basis.

 

It is further clarified that this change has been made to ensure that ECGC is able to assess and monitor the risks covered under its export credit insurance policies and to place appropriate risk mitigation measures. The above measure will also enable the exporters / banks in India in assessing the export payment realization prospects from buyers and/or banks in Russia.

 

The customers have been suitably advised to contact their servicing branch of ECGC for cover on shipments to Russia.

 

ECGC continues to monitor the situation and further review of the underwriting policy will be undertaken based on future developments.

Export demand for Indian wheat, corn and spices has shot up after Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine, forcing the international trade of agricultural commodities to shift sourcing to India since supplies from the two nations have come to a grinding halt.

 

'The prices of wheat at the Kandla port have increased from Rs2,200 per quintal to Rs2,350-2,400 per quintal in the last four days. With the FCI (Food Corporation of India) declaring that its upcoming tender this week will be the last one in March, we think that the prices of wheat and wheat products may increase further in the next fortnight,' said Sanjay Puri, former president of the Roller Flour Millers Association of India. 'The next crop will be harvested only after Baisakhi (April 13).'

 

Most of the wheat stock in India is held by the government agency FCI, which is not exporting the commodity. Wheat traders want the FCI to release more wheat into the market, which will help keep domestic prices under control, reduce excess stocks and also meet the export demand. However, the processing industry is worried. 'We will be requesting the government to immediately stop export of wheat from the country as the local prices have jumped from Rs21 per kg before the outbreak of the war to Rs24 per kg today (Tuesday). The export demand is so huge that if we do not stop exports, then the prices can increase further and may also lead to shortages in future,' said Anjani Agarwal, president, Roller Flour Millers Association.

 

Apart from wheat, demand for Indian corn has increased as buyers from India's neighbourhood shifted from Ukraine to India.

 

'Ukraine used to be a big exporter of non-GMO corn. Due to tensions in the Black Sea region and the high freight rates, now the demand for maize from South Asia will shift to India as no other origin can feed this demand,' said the head of an international trade consulting body, who did not wish to be identified. 'India's corn exports have been increasing for the past two years as supplies from Myanmar dwindled after the military coup in that country.'

 

Growing export of Indian corn has led to an increase in prices. Balram Yadav, managing director, Godrej Agrovet, said, 'The farm gate price of corn has increased from Rs19.50-20 per kg to Rs22 per kg. It may hover there or come down slightly by May.'

 

Prices of spices have also increased due to local shortages and strong global demand. 'Ukraine is one of the major exporters of coriander seeds. Coriander prices have increased about 30% during the past few months as the crop is smaller,' said Ashwin Nayak, founding chairman, Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders. 'Now, we expect increased export demand for Indian coriander as supplies from the Black Sea region will be restricted.'

 

Jeera prices have jumped 25-30% in four months due to reduced production and geopolitical factors. India is now the only prominent jeera supplier as supplies from countries such as Afghanistan, Turkey and Syria have been disturbed due to geopolitical reasons.

 

Strong export demand for cotton, yarn, fabric, and readymade garments has made the local spinning mills consume more cotton. Millers said that an unprecedented increase of about 65% in domestic cotton prices from about Rs135 per kg in February 2021 to Rs219 per kg in February 2022 is posing a challenge to exporters in meeting their export commitments. To meet the strong export demand, the South Indian Mills Association has asked the government to allow import of 4 million bales of cotton. The poultry industry is gearing up to ensure that prices of soybean, which is used as chicken feed, remain under control.

The grape export from Nashik has gathered momentum, and in the last one month, over 36,000 metric tonne (MT) of grapes have been exported to European countries.

 

According to the state agriculture department, the grape export is expected to continue till April-end. Of 36,000 MT, around 23,624 MT have been exported to the Netherlands, 1,918 MT to Germany, 1,835 MT to Poland and 1,625 MT to the UK among others.

 

During the same period last year, the district had exported over 1 lakh MT of grapes. According to Manik Patil, the director of the Grape Exporters Association of India (GEAI), the grape harvest has been delayed this year by around three-four weeks due to a delay in the pruning of vineyards.

'It takes around three months for the fruit to grow for the harvest after the pruning. Usually, pruning of the vineyards is over by October, and the harvest begins in December. But considering the unseasonal rains expected in December from the past two years, the grape farmers delayed their harvest this year, which also delayed the grape export,' said Patil.

 

Nashik district had exported 1.29 lakh tonnes of grapes during the last grape season.

Patil said that the district will touch last year’s grape export figure by April-end this year. He said the grape farmers and exporters are facing several challenges this year. The freight charges have doubled this year from 4,000 USD to 8,000 USD per container.

 

Moreover, packaging material prices have also increased by 30%. Total 32,952 farmers have registered 20,100 hectares of vineyards for the current grape harvest season 2021-22 (December-April) with the state government.

Indian wheat exporters have signed deals to export at least 5.5 lakh tonnes (lt) over the next couple of months as nations in South Asia, South-East Asia and West Asia are looking to New Delhi to meet their requirements for food and feed in view of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. 

 

'We have demand for Indian wheat from March-April. Our exporters have committed to ship 5.5 lakh tonnes. Both old and the new crop will be shipped out by exporters under these deals,' said Rajnikant Rai, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Agri-Business.

 

Indian wheat is currently being quoted at $330 a tonne, up from $300 before Russia ordered its troops into Ukraine on February 24. 

 

Market volatile

 

'Russia and Ukraine make up 35-40 per cent of global wheat exports,' the ITC official said. 

 

According to FAOSTAT, Russia exported 37.26 million tonnes (mt) and Ukraine 18.06 mt of wheat of the total exports of 202.48 mt in 2020 by various countries, including India. 

 

'The wheat market is volatile with buyers and sellers in a wait and watch mode. But prices have increased by $15-20 a tonne after the Ukraine crisis deepened. India’s advantage is that no other origin has its new crop coming during this time of the year,' said Nitin Gupta, Vice-President, Olam Agro India Ltd. 

 

Wheat prices in the global market are ruling at a nine-year high with the rates swinging below and above $9 a bushel. On Tuesday, benchmark wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade was quoted at $9.75 a bushel or $358.24 (Rs27,150) a tonne. 

 

Korea buying for feed

'We have been witnessing good demand for Indian wheat over the last couple of months. We are also finding parity in shipping the grain,' said Mukesh Singh, Director, MuBala Agro.

 

ITC’s Rai said countries in South Asia, West Asia and even the Philippines in the South-East Asian region are buying Indian wheat. 'Even South Korea is buying Indian wheat for feed purposes,' he said. 

 

Olam’s Gupta said India could easily ship out 3-4 mt by June this year, particularly when 5-6 lt are being exported every month. 'In December, we exported close to one million tonnes,' he said. 

 

According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) data, India exported 50.41 lt of wheat valued at $1.43 billion during the April-December period of the current fiscal compared with 10.69 lt valued at $278 billion lt in the year-ago period. 

 

Bangladesh, biggest buyer

Until November, exports were at 41.14 lt. While the per tonne realisation was $280 until November, it increased to $285 in December. Bangladesh bought 29.68 lt of Indian wheat in the first nine months of this fiscal, followed by Sri Lanka (4.04 lt), UAE (3.69 lt) and the Philippines (2.96 mt).

 

Higher wheat exports this year have helped growers with prices topping the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs1,975 a quintal announced for the 2021 rabi marketing season. This year, the MSP has been hiked to Rs2,015. 

 

'If the Ukraine-Russia standoff prolongs, Indian exports will gain. Both Ukraine and Russia too have a bumper wheat crop. But if the current situation continues, exports will be good until June-July,' Rai said. 

 

Record output

According to the second advance estimates of foodgrains for 2021-22 (July-June), wheat production is projected at a record 111.32 million tonnes against 109.59 million tonnes in 2020-21. 

 

'India’s wheat exports will be more in 2022 than last year in view of the current Ukraine-Russia problem,' said Gupta. 

 

'If the market is disturbed for, say, two months, India could turn out to be a huge supplier in West Asia and even ship to as far as Egypt,' said MuBala’s Mukesh.

 

Pramod Kumar, Vice-President, Roller Flour Mills Association of India, said domestic wheat prices have gained in view of higher exports. 'In the global market too, wheat prices are above our MSP,' he said. 

 

Freight heading north

Currently, the modal price or the rate at which most trades took place in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is between Rs1,900 and Rs2,000 a quintal. In markets such as Agra, prices are firmly above Rs2,000. But the problem for Indian exports will be that freight rates are also rising in view of the geopolitical crisis.

 

'If the Government can support transportation of wheat, we can certainly do well on the export front,' ITC’s Rai said. 

 

However, in view of the rise in wheat price the user industry has written to the Centre to suspend wheat shipments until the Ukraine-Russia crisis ends.

 

Though the crop is expected to be a record this year, arrivals have been delayed in view of the cold weather. 'Wheat harvest has been delayed by 15-20 days,' Rai said. 

 

Kumar said the quality of the wheat crop this year is good and any drop in the grain’s acreage will be made good by a better yield. 

 

'We will have to watch out for the weather over the next 30 days. If there is no rain, then we will have a good crop,' said Rai. 

 

Indian wheat exports are also aided by higher inventories with the Food Corporation of India (FCI). As of February 1, FCI had 28.27 mt of wheat with it against 31.83 mt during the same period a year ago. Currently, it is estimated at around 26 mt. 

The Russia-Ukraine crisis may give India an opportunity to export more wheat especially to Bangladesh, Egypt and Turkey, and eggs to the Middle East, sources said, even as exporters of engineering goods have put on hold their consignments to Russia amid banking sanctions being imposed on the country.

 

Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat, accounting for more than 18% of international exports while India competes with Ukraine in the Middle East in eggs.

 

'We do expect some benefit in agricultural exports such as wheat and poultry if India's stance remains neutral,' said an official.

 

India's central pool of wheat at 24.2 million tonne is twice more than the buffer and strategic needs, as per sources.

 

Bilateral trade with Russia in 2020-21 was $8.1 billion. Indian exports were $2.6 billion while imports from Russia were $5.48 billion. With Ukraine, the bilateral trade was $2.59 billion in FY21.

 

Sources said that Russia and Ukraine cover more than 70% of Egypt's imported wheat demand. In the crop year of 2021-22, Turkey was the largest buyer of Russian wheat, purchasing 4.5 million metric tonnes as of December 30, 2021 while Egypt bought 3.2 million metric tonnes.

 

In 2019, Russia and Ukraine together exported more than a quarter of the world's wheat.

 

'The main import from Russia is petroleum. There are enough other substitute sources available to fill in that,' said another official.

 

While Ukraine exports edible oils, petroleum products and fertilisers, Indian exports cover a number of products, of which pharmaceuticals supplies alone have grown, in recent years, to $154 million.

 

India's biggest item of import from Ukraine is animal and vegetable fats and oils. 'The current situation will not adversely impact India's trade position as the share of this commodity out of India's total imports of this item from across the world stands at only 10%,' said a source.